Monday October 3 - Edmonton Oilers 7 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks' preseason woes continued on Monday, with a 7-2 beatdown by the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
The final score makes the outcome look worse than it was. The Canucks kept it close at 4-2 until the last three minutes of the game. They played the Oilers relatively even for that first 57 minutes, despite a massive talent disparity between the two lineups.
As expected, Edmonton dressed a group that looks pretty close to what Vancouver will see on opening night next Wednesday. Jack Campbell went the distance in net, with a group of skaters that included McDavid, Draisaitl, Kane, Hyman and Nurse all dressed up front.
Meanwhile, this was the Canucks' group — which barely reached the NHL's threshold of "eight veterans" required for each preseason game.
For some of these players, Monday's game will likely be their only NHL action of the year. So the game serves as a reward of sorts for guys like Tristen Nielsen, Noah Juulsen and Danila Klimovich — especially given the opportunity to test themselves against McDavid and company.
Nils Hoglander was able to make the most of his power-play opportunity, pulling the Canucks into a 1-1 tie (not 2-2, as this tweet caption indicates).
The passer on that play was Christian Wolanin, the 27-year-old journeyman who has quickly become a folk hero in Vancouver thanks to a pair of competent outing in the last two games. With no timeline yet for Travis Dermott's return after he suffered a head injury during practice last week, I expect Wolanin will stay in the mix for a job with the big club right through the end of preseason.
Wolanin also had the feed from the point which set up Conor Garland in the second period, making the score 3-2 for Edmonton.
All told, Wolanin logged a team-leading 22:12 of ice time in all situations, including 4:50 on the power play. He added two takeaways, a giveaway and three blocked shots to his five shot attempts, three of which were on goal.
Total shots for the night were 36-30 for Edmonton. Garland, who was prominent, led the way for the Canucks with five shots, and was stymied on Campbell's best save of the night. Hoglander, Vasily Podkolzin and Curtis Lazar had four shots each.
And while coach Bruce Boudreau singled out Lazar for praise after the game, his face-off numbers weren't what we'd expect. Up against McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Canucks won only 37% of their draws on the night. Lazar was 4-for-13 for just 31%.
Expect to see very different lineups for both teams when the Canucks and Oilers meet up again in Abbotsford on Wednesday night. During Monday's broadcast, John Shorthouse hinted, but wouldn't confirm, that Connor McDavid might make the trip.
If he does, that'll be a major treat for the Abbotsford fans. But the real question, now, is whether Dylan Holloway will suit up after his hat-trick performance on Monday in Edmonton?
Finally healthy, the Oilers' first-round pick from 2020 has looked good at Young Stars and through preseason, and is making an early case that he could potentially challenge for the Calder Trophy. With all the stars that Edmonton minted back in the 80s and their big run of first-overall picks more recently, I hadn't realized that the Oilers have never had a rookie of the year. Even Connor McDavid missed out due to injury in his first year, so the Holloway hype train is already picking up a ton of steam.
The Canucks are off on Tuesday but a group of non-travelling regulars also practiced at UBC on Monday. They'll likely form the backbone of Vancouver's lineup on Wednesday night, as Boudreau is down to just two games remaining to get his team ready for the regular season.
And I'm not sure what happened to Phil Di Giuseppe. He took the morning skate with the travelling group and looked set to play on Monday night, but Arshdeep Bains swapped into his spot for the game.
For the second-straight year, Di Giuseppe has earned praise during camp as a player who could see reps at the NHL level. So while he's on the bubble, it'll be interesting to see if he's injured or, if not, what the organization has planned for him over the next few days.
Brock Boeser did hit the ice at UBC on Monday, keeping his legs fresh as he recovers from hand surgery. After practice Monday, Boudreau also said that he was expecting Ilya Mikheyev to return from injury in the next day or so.
Also — a programming note. With the MLB playoffs about to kick into gear, preseason hockey gets pushed to the back burner on Sportsnet this week. The schedule on
Canucks.com is showing radio coverage only for both Wednesday's game in Abbotsford and Friday's preseason finale against the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Arena.
Perhaps we'll see a livestream for one or both games. Or, at this point, maybe it's better if the Canucks play their last two exhibition games without the same scrutiny they've been getting over the last 10 days?
Ahead of the official opening of Abbotsford's training camp on Wednesday, I imagine the Canucks will announce another round of cuts on Tuesday, including a number of players who suited up in Edmonton on Monday night.
The NHL waiver wire has been humming over the last few days, but the Canucks have not yet re-assigned any players who require waivers. We may see some of that on Tuesday.
The organization has already reduced its roster by nine players over the last two days.
On Sunday, centre Carson Focht and defensemen Alex Kannok-Leipert and Quinn Schmeimann were assigned to Abbotsford.
Monday, they were joined by defenseman Jett Woo and forwards Vincent Arseneau, Marc Gatcomb, Chase Wouters, Matt Alfaro and Michael Regush.
Woo is still waiver exempt for one more season, so that's an easy move for the team to make.
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